Aug 10, 2018

North Korea chides U.S. sanctions pressure on denuclearization process

SEOUL/WASHINGTON - North Korea on Thursday denounced U.S. calls for
enforcing international sanctions despite its goodwill moves and said
progress on denuclearization promises could not be expected if
Washington followed an “outdated acting script.”
North Korea’s foreign ministry said Pyongyang had stopped nuclear and
missile tests, dismantled a nuclear test ground and returned the remains
of some U.S. soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Yet Washington was still insisting on “denuclearization first” and had
“responded to our expectation by inciting international sanctions and
pressure” it said.

“As long as the U.S. denies even the basic decorum for its dialogue
partner and clings to the outdated acting script which the previous
administrations have all tried and failed, one cannot expect any
progress in the implementation of the DPRK-U.S. joint statement
including the denuclearization,” the ministry said.

The statement on the KCNA state news agency said North Korea, which
calls itself the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was still
willing to implement a broad agreement made at a landmark June 12 summit
between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un.

But it accused unidentified high-level U.S. officials of “going against
the intention of President Trump” by “making baseless allegations
against us and making desperate attempts at intensifying the
international sanctions and pressure.”

It said “expecting any result, while insulting the dialogue partner” was
“a foolish act that amounts to waiting to see a boiled egg hatch out.”

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Kim vowed in Singapore to work toward denuclearization but the two sides
have yet to define a deal to meet that goal and Washington insists
sanctions pressure must be maintained during negotiations.

The North Korean statement followed comments this week by top American
diplomats stressing the need for Pyongyang to take additional steps
toward denuclearization and contentious remarks last week by U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean Foreign Minster Ri Yong
Ho on the sidelines of a regional summit in Singapore.

Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said this week that
Pyongyang had not taken the necessary steps to denuclearize while U.S.
Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Washington was “not
willing to wait for too long.”

Bolton, who spoke on Tuesday, said Trump, in a letter to Kim, proposed
sending Pompeo back to North Korea, and that Trump was ready to meet
with Kim any time.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a regular briefing on
Thursday that the United States was in touch with North Korea virtually
every day or other day but had no travel plans to announce for the
moment.

Ri traveled this week to Iran, where President Hassan Rouhani told him
the United States cannot be trusted after the Trump administration
reneged on a 2015 deal to lift sanctions in return for curbs on Iran’s
own nuclear program.

U.S. officials have declined to comment on a report on the Vox news
website on Wednesday saying that North Korea had repeatedly rejected a
U.S. proposal for it to cut its nuclear arsenal by 60 to 70 per cent
within six to eight months.

U.S. officials familiar with the talks, however, told Reuters that North
Korea had yet to agree to a timeline for eliminating its nuclear
arsenal or to disclose its size, which U.S. estimates have put at
between 30 and 60 warheads.

They said it had also not agreed to definitions of the key terms of any
agreement, or to any inspection of its nuclear test site, which it
claims to have decommissioned, but which U.S. intelligence officials
have said may still be operable.

Two U.S. officials said North Korea appeared to view Trump as a softer
touch. They said that when a session with Pompeo reached an impasse last
month, North Korean officials asked if he would like to step outside to
call the president, who declared after the June summit that North Korea
was “no longer a nuclear threat.”